Got offers for Alleyn's and Greycoat

Hi, the person that I know was high up on the waiting list for a Greycoats language place, so I'm confused that if your daughter has declined the language place at Greycoats ,why is that the girl that I know has not moved up a place on the waiting list. I will get my cousin's niece's friend to call admissions again tomorrow as I am confused.com and I know she will be furious and want a full investigation.

Hi Luna 9 - have not heard from you. My cousin's niece's friend has a daughter high up on the waiting list for the scholarship and since your niece has got into ALLEYNS, her position has not changed, so I'm a bit confused. Please help with any advice

Hi Luna, well done for your niece. That's interesting.. how long did it take to make the decision them from getting the offer at GCH to declining the language place. It must have been a tough decision. Was it a recent decision or did they decline the place in March?

Hi, Luna9, out of interest have you made your mind up yet? Alleyns or Greycoats?

Don't know if I'm too slow in responding but my niece goes to GCH. She got an offer for a Dulwich private school & GCH but fees were an important part of my sister's decision so they chose GCH. Niece is in yr 9 and is happy there. She has some friends who live very near the school and some friends who live in SE15 & SE22. Most of the girls my sister has met seem to come from local (yes!) East Dulwich, Peckham, Herne Hill & Blackheath areas. Initially she took the train and walked from Victoria but now takes the bus as it gives her time to sketch and read. From my sister's account GCH is very good in art & music. Niece isn't sporty so not sure but doubtful that sports are as good as Alleyns. Lots of GCH girls take 185 or any bus to Denmark Hill and train to Victoria (10 mins). Like all schools there are great, good, bad, and indifferent aspects to the school and each school with suit some more then others. That said both are good schools. Wishing your sister best of luck with the decision, think either way they have great choices.

Luna, I think she will be very happy there.

Girls from East Dulwich have been getting in for years. There are some very committed, church and C of E primary school attending families.

I did not say local children shouldn't get priority. When I was at school there were a lot of local children at both schools. I don't think one has to compromise the other.
The school has always been rough, that will never change.
Also it's my understanding that Lambeth for example doesn't have a problem other than snobbery. Lambeth Academy is a very good school and not oversubscribed. If people don't support their local school then it's no wonder school places are an issue. The solution is to stop the outstanding vs failing school BS that puts educationally aware parents off schools and makes them claw each other's eyes out to get to the 'right' school.

I didn't say I desired for them to travel across London, just that many do do it happily.

DD used to have "five bag" days. I used to have to meet her at Victoria as she could not get through the barrier. Honestly think twice about taking art, music, sport or drama if you are a commuter - and certainly not more than one of these.

I disagree though about Pimlico. It went through a very troubled spell. Enough that when my children were in nursery I used to avoid the end of the school day as pavement were crammed with big, slightly threatening, gangs of kids making passing difficult. There is now a real feel of purposefulness, and parents I know are happy, indeed sometimes preferring it to GC.

The trouble is that your and Tilly's desire to see kids from all over London access these central London schools implies you are equally happy that children local to these schools should commute long distances to unpopular, often failing, schools as these are often the only schools with places. (With DS we got a call in May saying Lambeth might have found a place at a school in Camden, and we know that several children from our local primary were still without a place at the end of the summer term.) Presumably Gods punishment for the fact their parents were not willing to spend long hours in church.

We ended up paying which was a real stuggle. Though looking back it was probably better though than the all night-prayer sessions which would have guaranteed my colleague's child a place, even though it came without any moral highground.

A pity though. I liked the idea of GC becoming more accessible, and think it might be good for the school.

Needmoresleep, if you'd asked me at 15 when my art coursework had just escaped from massive plastic folder and scattered all over Victoria Station I would have had a different reply. It's something that many years from now, hopefully she'll see the positive side of.

Pimlico is now a local school if you knew Pimlico back in the late 80's and 90's you'll know how sadly depressing that is. It had local and non-local students in equal numbers and was a truely mixed and dynamic school. I doubt it is that now, even if a lot of the original teachers are still growing old and going strong.

We are beyond this. DD is now in sixth form. However in stark contrast to others, she really did not enjoy rush hour commuting, seeing it as 7.5 hours lost from each week, plus the fun and games during strikes etc.

From what you are saying the new criteria has not made much difference. GC kids will still come in from far and wide. The only positive is that Pimlico is much improved and now seen as a viable option for those local children who do not see long journeys as a positive.

Needmoresleep. I'm sorry to hear of your experience with the Secondary process. Perhaps there should be another thread about how London needs more outstanding state secondary schools and how that can be achieved. The girls I know are starting next September in year 7. Did you go for Pimlico. I hear very good things about that school. We would not have met the requirements. Just slightly too far in the catchment.

It isn't easy to 'play the game' so to speak on a church place. I think vicars can see through that and in the end we don't see what they say about us on the application. It is sent separately by the vicar. Personally, I think state schools should be for everyone, but the current system is not set up that way with specialist places/church places, founders places, etc. This is indicative of a wider problem. I would have loved to have sent my DD to our local Secondary. I visited it several times and was increasingly disappointed with each visit by a number of things. So, I took my chances on schools that we met the admissions requirements for even if they were further afield. In the end we didn't even put it on our list of 6.

I agree that commuting can be a positive depending on the logistics of the individual commute. That is a wonderful thing about growing up in London. Kids can access so much via public transport and it makes them grow up in a positive way before Uni.

Lots of Greycoats/Oratory/other children still schlep miles across London to see friends tomandizzy. And enjoy doing it

Back in the 90's lots of kids 'schelpped' across London for school and to each other's houses from Peckham to Hammersmith. It was all ILEA, so no catchments. We were free and happy and no one had local friends or considered asking parents to pick them up and ferry them around. That's just was how things were. I'm just saying for me and everyone I know it was a good experience. A lot of modern London kids are far more sheltered. Ironic given that London is far safer now.

Lots of DC commute across London to Greycoats and other schools. In fact, it doesn't take them any longer to go 4+ miles into/across town than it takes my DD to go by bus to her local school which is under 3 miles away.

Really? DD commuted. About 40 minutes each way. Crowded trains. No local friends. Me having to pick her up after play rehersals etc, when she had to go straight onto her moch loved extracurricular activity or when she had too much kit (if you commute don't do art!). London children tend to be more streetwise anyway. I don't think an argument that a commute is a good thing is sufficient for supporting demanding admissions requirements and forcing loads of kids to schlepp across London in rush hour.

I can't comment, children should go where they feel happier. I do have to defend the commute though. I commuted my whole secondary school life to GCH, at one point we lived in Forest Hill. It was one of the best experiences I had and made me street smart and a big adventurer. It's a shame that London catchments no longer give London children that experience.

I'm a bit like Howcanitbe. GC is our nearest school by far, yet completely inaccessible. Instead DD was offered a failing school she had not applied to, three buses away. They would not even let us look round until the induction day in the summer. Instead we paid, only for me to be critised by a colleague who lived in Kent and who did not "believe" in private education. The colleague did not believe that we had not got a place. Lots of her friends' daughters went to GC. All you had to do was "tick the boxes". In the end I wonder if the school/Council realised that very strict criteria was leading to a pupil body that favoured those belonging to active evangelical churches or those who had "played the game" with few places for local children, even those who were church goers and who had attended local CofE Primaries.

I assume local concern will have increased given the decision that the new Free School in Waterloo just on the other side of the river from GC would be run by the Oasis Schools Trust, who appear to led by an evangelical Christian movement (Elim Pentacostal Church?) . The area desperately needs school places, DS was not offered anything at all. But it was beginning to look as if local education was limited to those who had God on their side. I therefore welcome the change in the GC criteria.

And to reassure OP. I understand that the top set is quite different. Teaching is strong, and the sixth form, when the same religious requirements aren't imposed, and when they take in boys, is even stronger. The school is genuinely comprehensive and I had heard they were tough on discipline. I suspect it is needed. Certainly a couple of years ago I witnessed quite a scrap at Victoria station including Greycoat girls and Westminster City boys. My guess is that if they have more local children feeding through several good local church primaries the school will remain diverse and comprehensive, but hopefully the need for obvious discipline might be reduced.

Mumof3, are the girls you know starting in Year 7 or are they already in the school. I think the point is that criteria have only just changed. The catchment going forward should be more local.